Hitomi Shinonome
Hitomi Shinonome (東雲瞳 Shinonome Hitomi) is Ritsuka Aoyagi’s, Yuiko Hawatari, and Yayoi Shioiri's school teacher. She is very naive and innocent, and painfully aware of these characteristics. At twenty-three years old, she is teased and ridiculed for retaining her ears (and therefore her virginity) to such an age. She is visibly embarrassed, but as the story progresses, she gains confidence and pride over making her own choices. When they met, Soubi Agatsuma brusquely rejected Hitomi and says he doesn’t care for older women, despite the fact that she is only three years older than him and never made a romantic move to begin with. His brash actions are mysterious, but a bit more reasonable when you consider his undiscerning hatred towards teachers as a result of his own experiences with Ritsu Minami. Reasons for this awkward behavior towards Hitomi may stem from jealousy – it is interesting to note that Soubi refers to Hitomi as ‘childish’ and yet still respectfully calls her ‘Shinonome-sensei’, only degrading her by her sexuality, possibly because Hitomi has remained a virgin while he forcibly lost his ears at a much earlier age. Although he rejects her, it can be noted that Soubi enjoys tormenting her to an extent, showing pleasure in confronting her face-to-face in volume 2 while making her uneasy. Despite his genuine dislike, in volume two of the manga he both holds her closely when she faints (which is notable because in the entire series, Hitomi and Ritsuka are the only two characters he physically interacts with) and saves her from being raped by the male Zeros, Youji and Natsuo. Although Hitomi is grateful for Soubi’s protection, it only embarrasses her more as Soubi manages to treat Hitomi as a subordinate, constantly belittling her. However, despite his cold treatment of her, Hitomi appears to have some feelings for Soubi, due to the fact in volume 2 of the manga (episode 8 of the anime) she bursts into tears and broods over him. Hitomi has a younger sister whom she takes care of and is also the leader of the English club, which she tries to convince Ritsuka to join much to his chargin (In the manga is shown that she also has a younger brother that looks to much like Mimuro of the fearless pair). Despite being very caring, she also seems very scared of those with harsh personalities, such as Soubi and possibly Ritsuka’s mother, though they’ve yet to meet. Hitomi is very troubled by the injuries Ritsuka sustains from his mother, and greatly desires to get involved in the situation to make a change, in spite of her fears and her colleagues’ dissent. She had her suspicions about Ritsuka’s constant injuries and when they were confirmed by Soubi, she apparently gained a little more favor with him than before. Trivia * When Hitomi calls Soubi in chapter 6 of volume 6 of the manga, she informs him that she is the teacher of sixth grade class three at Yonojounan elementary school Category:Female Characters Category:Characters